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Associated Press

US employers add 157,000 jobs, jobless rate hits 3.9 pct.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers slowed their hiring in July, adding 157,000 jobs, a solid gain but below the healthy pace in the first half of this year. The Labor Department said Friday the unemployment rate ticked down to 3.9 percent from 4 percent. That's near an 18-year low of 3.8 percent reached in May. Employers added an average of 224,000 new workers in the first six months of this year, a faster pace than in 2017. The pickup has impressed many economists because it's coming late in the economic expansion, which has entered its 10th year and is now the second-longest in U.S.

Campaigns on their own as cyber threats roil midterms

NEW YORK (AP) — Kamala Harris has been the target of social media misinformation campaigns since she became a U.S. senator. Every month for the last 18 months, her office has discovered on average between three and five fake Facebook profiles pretending to be hers, according to a Harris aide. It's unclear who creates the pages, which are often designed to mislead American voters about the ambitious Democratic senator's policies and positions. The aide spoke on the condition of anonymity, like more than a half dozen campaign officials contacted for this story, for fear of attracting unwanted attention from adversaries or scrutiny on the Senate office's evolving cybersecurity protocols.

Trump renews attacks on 'fake, fake disgusting news'

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) — President Donald Trump is renewing his campaign against the media, claiming at a Pennsylvania rally that the media is the "fake, fake disgusting news" and casting journalists as his true political opponent. Trump barnstormed Thursday night in a state that he swiped from the Democrats in 2016 and that is home to a Senate seat he is trying to place in the Republicans' column this fall. But the race between GOP U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta and two-term incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey took a back seat to Trump's invectives against the media, which came amid a backdrop of antagonism to journalists from the White House and hostility from the thousands packed into a loud, overheated Wilkes-Barre arena.

10 Things to Know for Today

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today: 1. CYBER ATTACKS THREATEN MIDTERM ELECTIONS Intelligence officials warn that foreign adversaries continue to wage cyber warfare against the U.S. election systems. 2. WHY ABORTION RIGHTS GROUPS FEAR TRUMP SUPREME COURT NOMINEE Some abortion rights advocates fear Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, if confirmed, would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, the case establishing a woman's right to abortion. 3. WHO IS AIRING MANY GRIEVANCES AGAINST THE PRESS President Donald Trump is renewing his campaign against the media, claiming at a Pennsylvania rally that the media is the "fake, fake disgusting news." 4.

With scant record, Supreme Court nominee elusive on abortion

Twice in the past year, Brett Kavanaugh offered glimpses of his position on abortion that strongly suggest he would vote to support restrictions if confirmed to the Supreme Court. One was in a dissent in the case of a 17-year-old migrant seeking to terminate her pregnancy. The other was a speech before a conservative group in which he spoke admiringly of Justice William Rehnquist's dissent in the 1973 Roe v. Wade case that established a woman's right to abortion. Yet the big question about Kavanaugh's view on abortion remains unanswered: whether he would vote to overturn Roe. He'll almost certainly decline to answer when he is asked directly at his confirmation hearing.

History at stake in Tennessee clash for US Senate

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Former Tennessee Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen and Republican U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn are on a collision course to claim their own slices of history in a critical U.S. Senate race. Blackburn, an ally of President Donald Trump, would break ground as the first woman Tennessee ever elected to the Senate. Bredesen could breathe life into a depleted Democratic Party in Tennessee that hasn't won statewide in more than a decade — not since he did it himself in his 2006 re-election bid. It's been even longer for Tennessee Democrats to see success in Senate races. The last to win was former Vice President Al Gore in 1990.

Judge in Manafort trial has a sharp wit, sharp tongue

WASHINGTON (AP) — "I'm not in the theater business," Judge T.S. Ellis asserted during jury selection in Paul Manafort's financial fraud trial. "You have to be better-looking for that." Objection, Your Honor. The trial of President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman has plenty of drama and it's coming from the judge. Easily exasperated, and with a sharp wit, the U.S. district judge called out attorneys for both sides this week when he heard they'd been rolling their eyes, apparently at him. The judge judged their expressions to mean, "Why do we have to put up with this idiot judge?" Privately, lawyers who have appeared before him say Thomas Selby Ellis III likes to be seen as the smartest person in the courtroom, not a huge leap for a judge.

Pompeo: 'ways to go' before NKorea meets denuke vow

SINGAPORE (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says North Korea is far from living up to its pledge to denuclearize and remains in violation of numerous U.N. Security Council resolutions. Speaking Friday before he attends an Asian security forum with North Korea's foreign minister, Pompeo told reporters in Singapore there was "still a ways to go before" achieving the goal of ridding the North of its nuclear weapons. Pompeo's comments came after the White House announced Thursday that President Donald Trump received a new letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and responded quickly with a letter of his own.

Zimbabwe cops stop opposition meeting after Mnangagwa win

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Hours after President Emmerson Mnangagwa was declared the winner of a tight election, riot police disrupted a press conference where opposition leader Nelson Chamisa was about to respond to the election results. Chamisa had already denounced Mnangagwa's win as "fake" and fraudulent, and earlier Thursday police issued a warrant for Chamisa's arrest. Zimbabwe's closely-watched elections began with Monday's peaceful vote but turned deadly 48 hours later when the military fired on protesters and six people were killed. Friday morning a truckload of police, with shields and batons, dispersed 100 local and international press gathered to hear Chamisa but did not say why they were taking such action.

Official: Suicide bombing of Afghan Shiite mosque kills 25

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bomber slipped undetected into a Shiite Muslim mosque in eastern Afghanistan on Friday killing at least 25 people and wounding at least 23, a provincial government official said. The attacker blew himself up as worshippers gathered in the mosque for weekly prayers on Friday, the Muslim holy day, said Abdullah Asrat, spokesman for the governor of Paktia province. The bomber slipped undetected through a side door, he said. Syed Sufi Gardezi, the most senior Shiite cleric in the city of Gardez, put the death toll at 30. He described a scene of panic and distress outside the Imam-e-Zaman mosque as news of the explosion spread and relatives gathered.